EDS Corporation will recruit an additional 120 people at its Irish Systems Engineering Centre at Lower Canal Street, Dublin. This will bring employment up to 470.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said the US parent's expansion decision "further underlines the high profile Ireland enjoys in the worldwide information technology, telecommunications and electronic business industries".

She noted that recruitment would begin immediately.

The jobs have followed the decision by EDS to expand its Irish-based worldwide telecoms centre and to enhance further its e-business solutions capability.

The expanding will develop the company's expertise in ORACLE and SAP enterprise applications software. EDS set up its system engineering centre in Dublin in 1989 with plans to employ 160 people to support its customer base in Europe.

Its expected size has more than doubled following an IDA-supported expansion in 1996 and its acquisition of the Irish operations of the Neodata Corporation in 1997.

The activities at the centre include software development, project management, technology planning and Year 2000 and EMU conversion work.

The US parent company is based in Plano, Texas, and has existed for more than 35 years. It has over 9,000 business and government clients in some 50 countries.

Its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. It generated sales of $16.9 billion last year.